A Journey of a Thousand Miles

 Welcome to the blog of our Route 66 Adventure.  Sue and I are driving from Chicago to Santa Monica CA along historic RT66, with a stop off for a few days in Las Vegas.  But first, we have to get to Chicago.

To that end, this morning we got up, packed up, turned off the water and put the heat on vacation mode.  A stop at the bank, a stop at the bagel store, and a stop for gas and we were on our way.  This first leg was a 6 hour drive to Newton Falls OH, with a stop in Grove City PA for a late lunch.  

There's going to be a lot of selfies in this blog.  Get used to it!

First State down!

Grove City was a cute little town, but the "City" part is a bit aspirational.  We had a great lunch at the Broad Street Grille, then we took a walk around town to see six steel street sculptures in various states of repair. Sue found out about the sculptures on the Roadside America app.  Stopping to see odd local attractions is going to be a big part of this trip, or as Sue puts it, "we're going to stop and see a lot of silly stuff".

Second State down!

Grove City, PA

While walking through Grove City, there was a total eclipse of the sun. Perhaps you heard about that.  we were only probably 20 or 30 miles away from the Zone of Totality, but since it was quite overcast, we didn't' feel the need to rush to make it.

Grove City denizens, try to view the eclipse

Our view of the eclipse

Another hour drive and we checked into our Newton Falls Holiday Inn Express for the night. One of our goals on this trip is to patronize no chain restaurants or hotels, so this night may be our last chain hotel until we get to Vegas. We went into Newton Falls for dinner. Newton Falls' claim to fame seems to be their Zip code: 44444.  But we also stopped to see the Falls after which Newton Falls was named, a concrete replica of he Statue of Liberty, and the oldest operating covered bridge in the State of Ohio.  You know, more Stupid Stuff.

Home of the 4444

The Falls of Newton

Not the real one

The Bridges of Trumbull County

A nice meal at a Mexican Restaurant, a quick stop at Dairy Queen (small vanilla cone with rainbow sprinkles), and we were back to the hotel for the night.  Tomorrow: Chicago, that toddelin' town!